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August 17, 2020

5 Tips for Managing Your Purchased Services

With over 30%* of all operational expenses, purchased services can be a revealing spend category for healthcare systems. Why? Purchased services often act as a litmus test for how well an organization systematizes its operations, communicates across departments, and optimizes their resources. Ultimately over the next decade, the health systems that fine-tune their purchased services management process will thrive, while everyone else falls behind.Purchased Services Quick Facts: Purchased services include any and all services that are performed by a third-party vendor rather than done by the health system itself. Examples include landscaping services, credit card processing, and transcription. Health systems […]

August 10, 2020

Improve Supplier Relationships - TAG Inc - The Audit Group

Keys to Successful Supplier Relationships

A positive supplier relationship builds trust and loyalty – both important foundations when it comes to negotiating new contracts. Building on trust and loyalty with your suppliers can have financial reward such as: Avoid overcharges. Suppliers may be understaffed or have inefficient systems leading to charges on supplies or services higher than the agreed-upon terms. Recover and avoid duplicate payments. Duplicate payments happen in all health systems, but loyalty with suppliers can help keep them honest and return the duplicated payment before inquiring about it. Avoid charges for services not rendered. Purchased services can be complex to manage leading to […]

May 27, 2020

Sourcing as a Strategic Means for Monitoring Rebates

Can a missed rebate really affect your hospital? The answer is yes! One of our clients in the northeast nearly missed out on a rebate of $250,000, the equivalent of purchasing a new ultrasound machine, covering the salaries of 3 – 4 RNs, or buying a new mammography system. This client did not have an effective tracking program costing them millions in missed rebates each year. Fortunately, the rebate was discovered and resolved during an audit of their procure-to-pay data. Ensuring all rebates are actually realized is pivotal in ensuring a healthcare system’s saving targets are met. no-repeat;left top;; auto […]

May 22, 2020

Why Internal Auditing Should Utilize Recovery Audits - TAG Inc - The Audit Group

How Internal Audit Can Utilize Recovery Audits to Assist with Financial Stability

Bulletproofing Hospital Finances amidst COVID-19 Since the COVID-19 outbreak, hospital revenues have dropped an estimated $1.4 billion per day, causing over 200,000 healthcare employees to be furloughed or laid off. Though revenue stability is reportedly increasing, it is unlikely that hospitals will see normalcy anytime in the near future. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, hospitals routinely lost millions each year from unnecessary and unmitigated financial risks. Hospitals rely largely on Internal Audit to help shore up these risks, but one department alone often cannot handle the overwhelming number of system-wide procedural repairs that need to be made. Generally, gaps that […]

February 27, 2020

Procure-to-Pay End User Role - TAG Inc | The Audit Group

Missing a Piece of the Puzzle: The End User’s Role in the Procure-to-Pay Process

Typically, the players in the Procure-to-Pay (P2P) process are considered to be Supply Chain and Accounts Payable. Most systems fail to acknowledge an equally crucial player – the end user. Though many recognize that the end-user kicks off the P2P process, they do not see that the success of the P2P process often hinges on the end user’s first acts. Traditionally, the end-users’ role is relegated to requesting products and, perhaps, some aspects of receiving. The end user’s requests are focused on their needs – either individually or as a department. Because they are provided with limited information about the […]

February 12, 2020

A Recovery Firm is NO LONGER ENOUGH | TAG Inc - The Audit Group

A Recovery Audit Firm is No Longer Enough

A Recovery Audit Firm is No Longer Enough One monumental problem facing the healthcare industry: WASTE. How massive is this issue? Let’s put it into perspective: US healthcare providers spend $3,600,000,000,000 each year One-third of that $3.6T spend results in waste That amounts to $1,200,000,000,000 of waste EACH YEAR Fortunately, there are several firms within the healthcare industry that focus on recouping funds resulting from waste. These firms are known as recovery audit firms. What is a Recovery Audit Firm? The world of recovery auditing is not well known, but these firms have been around for more than 40 years […]

January 29, 2020

Healthcare Procure to Pay Process Mapping - TAG Inc - The Audit Group

Process Mapping: An Essential Tool for Your Procure-to-Pay Processes

Looking to increase margins and cut costs in your health system’s Procure-to-Pay (P2P) processes? One often-overlooked tool to accomplish this is process mapping or creating a visual representation of organizational processes. This not only identifies costly process gaps but also identifies areas lacking accountability and communication. In healthcare systems’ P2P, commonly broken processes include: Extended processing time for an invoice with incorrect POs Delayed vendor payments Contract price implementation Returning products to suppliers Types of Process Maps By identifying the current and ideal states of processes, organizations can more clearly determine where to deploy resources to drive efficiencies and cut […]

October 25, 2019

Vendor Master Cleanse - TAG Inc - The Audit Group

How to Perform a Vendor Master Cleanse in Your Health System

We recently published a blog discussing the impact of outdated and incomplete vendor master files. Your vendor master reduces the risk of fraud and payment errors for health systems. Now we walk you through the laborious steps involved in cleaning up, validating, and maintaining your vendor master. STEP 1: Inspect the Current Vendor Master File Inspecting and assessing your current data is the most time-consuming part of a vendor data cleanse. Begin by identifying and collecting all of your relevant documentation, vendor files, and data sources. Once all the necessary information is collected, import to your preferred data management platform […]

September 24, 2019

PREVENT OVERPAYMENTS UNDER THE FALSE CLAIMS ACT- TAG Inc - The Audit Group

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: Prevent Overpayments under the False Claims Act

In today’s healthcare landscape, the government funds over two-thirds of all provider costs, totaling over $3.5 trillion annually. Generally, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) manages the payment of these claims. In an effort to maintain integrity in the current healthcare system, providers are responsible for determining whether the submitted claims are paid correctly. If an overpayment is made, the provider must report and return the funds within 60 days of discovery. Overpayments can occur from duplicated claim submissions, payment for non-covered or excess services, payment to the incorrect individual, or any other misapplication of government funds. 31 […]